Now that we’re more than halfway through spring training, the Red Sox roster is starting to take shape.

Here are 10 spring observations on a team that may have questions, but seems to be coming together, at least:

• 1. The clubhouse is eleventy-billion times better than it was over the last two years. General manager Ben Cherington set out to address the black hole made all the worse by the presence of Bobby Valentine last year, and if March is any indication, he has succeeded.

The vibe in the room couldn’t be any different, or frankly, any better. It starts with manager John Farrell, who has thus far commanded the respect of his players without leaving any knives in anyone’s back.

But Farrell’s just the start. The Red Sox desperately needed fresh blood, players who hadn’t been beaten down by years and years of the scrutiny of playing in the fishbowl of Boston. Most guys aren’t David Ortiz or Dustin Pedroia. Most guys can only take so much of the fishbowl.

Jonny Gomes, David Ross, Ryan Dempster, Joel Hanrahan, Mike Napoli and Shane Victorino have no history here. Neither does Stephen Drew. Neither, for all intents and purposes, does Andrew Bailey.

By arriving en masse, they’re able to exert as much of an influence over the rest of the clubhouse as they are to be affected by those already here. It wasn’t always so, not with the defiant Josh Beckett setting the tone for the pitchers and the aloof Adrian Gonzalez setting at least some of the tone among the hitters.

The new guys have an open mind and a fresh perspective, and it seems to be rubbing off on the holdovers. Jon Lester’s happy. John Lackey’s happy. Alfredo Aceves still seems borderline crazy, but that’s part of his charm.

One random recent example: During a pickoff drill last week, the pitchers gathered around the mound in a semi-circle while Junichi Tazawa’s translator ran through the drill. They razzed him when his first throw bounced past the bag, then cheered him when his second was on the money. Just a silly little thing, but still telling.

The player to watch is Gomes, a force of nature when it comes to intensity, and a player with a winning track record in such outposts as Tampa, Cincinnati, Washington, and Oakland.

If Gomes pops a few homers and becomes a legitimate force in the lineup, watch out, because that will allow his voice to carry extra weight in the clubhouse, which is exactly what the front office wants.

• 2. This Ortiz situation has taken on a bit of a “Groundhog Day” feel, but until Ortiz wakes up and hears something other than “I Got You, Babe” on the clock radio, we’re all justified in worrying.

Right now there appear to be two schools of thought. The view of the medical and baseball operations staffs seems to be that once Ortiz realizes he’s not going to reinjure himself, he’ll be able to play through the pain productively.

The other school of thought, which Ortiz seems to subscribe to, is that the pain signals a deeper problem, and he won’t be completely comfortable until it’s gone.

One option not on the table is surgery.

“Surgery on that would take me out for the season, so that’s something we’re not interested in doing,” Ortiz said. “It’s getting better. Before I barely could walk. Now I can run. That means it’s going away.”

• 3. Improved clubhouse chemistry isn’t the only pleasantly foreign development. There’s also this: The Red Sox have legit minor league talent and a place for it to play for the first time in what feels like decades.

In outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., and right-handers Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster, the Red Sox boast three youngsters who could impact the big league club this season.

There’s a belief that the Red Sox are too cautious with their minor leaguers, that they’d have found a way to keep Mike Trout and Bryce Harper in the minors last year.

This isn’t borne out by the facts — Will Middlebrooks and Daniel Bard were each in the big leagues at age 23 — but is more a reflection of the organization’s simple lack of legit minor league talent. There just haven’t been the kind of wow-inducing youngsters in their system to justify an early promotion.

The aforementioned trio, along with shortstop Xander Bogaerts, means that’s all changing, and don’t be surprised if the next generation starts arriving sooner rather than later.

• 4. The Red Sox did well for themselves getting infielder Brock Holt from the Pirates as an addition to the Hanrahan deal. Don’t be surprised if he makes an impact off the bench at some point this year. His line-drive swing is as advertised, and he has impressed all over the infield.

• 5. Speaking of Hanrahan, as bad as his numbers have looked in the early going here, his stuff has been solid, particularly his 97-mph fastball. True, Hanrahan shouldn’t be walking the park, but as long as he has his velocity and sharp slider, the belief among those who have seen him a lot is that he’ll answer the bell when the season starts.

• 6. Interesting to hear a National League scout’s take on shortstop Jose Iglesias, who has swung the bat with more authority this spring: “He needs to spend more time making the routine play and less time worrying about turning everything into a highlight-reel play.” The scout has seen a fair amount of Iglesias this spring and still believes he’s below-average as a hitter, though he praised him for adding some bat speed this winter. “He’s getting around on more fastballs this spring,” the scout noted.

• 7. New pitching coach Juan Nieves has a nice way about him. He’s also bilingual, which should help with all of the Latin pitchers on the roster. Might the Pitching Coach Curse be coming to an end? Nieves is the fourth pitching coach the club has employed since Farrell left after the 2010 season, and he’s hoping to be the first to last more than a season, a feat not accomplished by predecessors Curt Young, Bob McClure or Randy Niemann.

• 8. You’ve got to hand it to Daniel Nava. From college team manager (as in, he did the laundry) to walk-on, to independent leaguer, to seeming minor league afterthought, to big leaguer with amazing debut (grand slam), to cruddy fielder with no power, to decent outfielder with some on-base ability, to versatile first baseman/outfielder who should make this team and play some, too.

• 9. Interesting moment on a side field last week, where Red Sox legend Luis Tiant worked with reliever Clayton Mortensen on his delivery. There are as many former Sox here as ever — Rich Gedman, Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Carl Yastrzemski, Pedro Martinez, Jason Varitek and Mike Lowell have made appearances — and they’re not just working on their golf games. They’ve been active in the cage, on the side fields, etc.

• 10. Christian Vazquez may not have a place on the roster with three catchers ahead of him on the depth chart, but it’s hard to believe there’s a catcher in the game with a stronger arm. He has an absolute cannon. Just wanted that noted.

Crawford presses matter

Carl Crawford took some heat in Boston last week for telling CBSSports.com, among other things, that he and the Red Sox should’ve done their homework over how good a fit he’d be for Boston, and that the media had it in for him.

“I took so much of a beating in Boston, I don’t think anything could bother me anymore,” he said. “They can say what they want — that I’m the worst free agent (signing) ever — and it won’t get to me. But it bothered me the whole time there.

“Look how they treat Lackey. Adrian (Gonzalez) hit 30 home runs (actually 27), and they talked about him not hitting home runs.

“That smile turned upside down quick,” Crawford added. “I think they want to see that in Boston. They love it when you’re miserable. Burying people in the media, they think that makes a person play better. That media was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.”

The knee-jerk reaction was that a) Crawford should’ve played better (which he has never disputed); and b) the fans actually went easy on him, all things considered, because they recognized how hard he worked and how much he cared.

The thing is, both sides can be right. Yes, Crawford did not live up to his contract. No, he wasn’t vilified as badly as he could have been.

But he also faced a daily stream of questions about his struggles, and far fewer questions during those few times when he did well. It’s easy to tell him to shut up and play, but until you put yourself in his shoes, that’s easier said than done.

Maddon sees level field

Rays manager Joe Maddon had an interesting take on the sudden parity that has taken hold of baseball. Literally any of the five teams in the AL East could win the division this year, and when was the last time you could say that?

Maddon sees the league’s crackdown on performance-enhancing drugs playing a key role in the lack of any super teams.

“As the playing field becomes more and more level regarding PEDs being out of the game, to be able to purchase a tremendous advantage is also going away a bit also,” Maddon said. “The purchasing power doesn’t get you what it got you five or 10 years ago. The same amount of money is going to get you a really good baseball player, but not at the level you used to be able to purchase. They’re not building them like they had five or 10 years ago.”

Just consider some of the players linked to performance-enhancing drugs over the last decade: Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds.

The Rays couldn’t compete with rosters featuring players with that type of production, but now that 30 homers qualifies as a good power-hitting season, the Rays can win in other ways without being overwhelmed.

“That’s a part that’s encouraging to me,” Maddon said. “Even if you’re not going to spend a ton of dough, the other teams can’t buy the production they were buying a couple of years ago. It doesn’t exist.”

So what separates a winning team now?

“At the end of the day, which team is more cohesive, which team plays the game better on a nightly basis, which team believes in its philosophy more, which team on that night wants it more, all of that matters.

“All of those things have helped to create more of a parity situation like you saw last year with Oakland and Baltimore. All the different teams. You’re going to see more groups in the hunt.

“I’m not sure if it’s going to be NFL-esque. We’re talking about a salary cap there, and here it’s more about a level playing field regarding super humans vs. normal humans.”